Athlete of the Week: Injury doesn’t stop NMB’s Reisen

Coming off a surprising run to the Class 3A state wrestling tournament as a freshman, North Myrtle Beach’s Brandon Reisen was looking forward to taking the next step this season. In an instant, he feared his sophomore campaign was almost over before it began.

Wrestling in the 120-pound finals of the season-opening North Myrtle Beach Duals, Reisen landed awkwardly on his elbow and suffered a match-ending injury that easily could have been a season-ender. But just one month later, Reisen is back on the mat and on top of his game.

“I got thrown and landed wrong on it, and I knew it was pretty bad,” said Reisen, who was voted the Mammy’s Kitchen Athlete of the Week for his courageous comeback. “The worst part wasn’t the pain; it was because I felt like I could have beaten the kid but I couldn’t keep wrestling.”

That’s that competitive spirit that has Reisen back in midseason form, although he missed most of the midseason. That’s also the determination that has helped him rise up from his formative years with his club team, Takedown Wrestling, to the top of the high school ranks.

“I started at Takedown in the fourth grade and wrestling has been my sport ever since,” Reisen said. “I train year-round so it didn’t take me that long (to recover from the injury). I didn’t practice for three weeks and went easy in the fourth week. It feels great.”

Despite missing a month of mat time, Reisen is ranked No. 4 in the state and recently won the 120-pound title in the Horry/Georgetown County Wrestling Championships. But Reisen has bigger fish to fry – both at the high school level and beyond.

“Obviously, I want to qualify for state and hopefully win it all,” Reisen said. “But I also want to go to Nationals and make All-American. I want to get a scholarship and wrestle at a Division I school, or whatever level I can. And it would be great to go on and be an Olympian someday.”